The Other Side
by AlwaysAndForeverAfter
Summary: AU: Catarina Valentine, who has only ever known the world of designer clothing and private schools was forced to take the subway one day after her driver was running late. There, she locked eyes with a homeless teen, Jade, who was beautiful even in ruin. Cat reached out to help this girl she was drawn to, not expecting Jade to be the one to help her.


**Hello! I have returned. I know it has been ages since i've been on here last, and about a month ago i even got a PM from one of you asking if i was okay and when i will be putting up another story. Yes, i am okay. Life just got in the way and i haven't found myself writing very after lots of thought, i've found myself wanting to write this piece.**

**It is very different than a lot of the things i usually write, so please let me know if this is anything you're willing to read and if i should go forward with the idea. If not, it is no problem for me to try again with something else.**

**It is rated T for now (let me know if you think i should change it along the way), and of course i own no part of Victorious**

**I hope you enjoy :)**

From the moment she woke up in the morning, Cat knew that it was not going to be a good day. When she opened her eyes at the sound of her alarm clock, she found herself with a pounding headache. Looking towards the large window on the left side of her bedroom, she was greeted with the grey skies of a rainy day in New York City.

She got up and got ready for school, thankful yet again that the private school she attends on the Upper West Side for the arts does not require uniforms. The school thinks that, being that it's an art school, it should allow its students to express their creativity.

Cat is just happy because she doesn't need to wear frumpy clothing.

She chooses a pale pink dress under a hot pink tweed Chanel jacket. She pinned the left side of her hair back slightly with her favorite Swarovsky crystal clip (it was in the shape of a butterfly, and Cat just loves butterflies) and got to work with her makeup. She had her morning routine down to the second, knowing that it takes her exactly 15 minutes to get herself looking good for school.

She grabbed the bag she had packed the night before and threw her phone in the side pocket and headed out towards the kitchen to where her set of house keys sat in a crystal bowl.

For the shortest of moments, Cat felt a pang of hunger hit deep in her gut. She went and grabbed a glass, filling it up with water.

"Pretty girls don't eat," she reminded herself, and chugged the cold water, loving how it seemed to fill her stomach for zero calories.

As she put her glass in the sink, her cell phone rang. She reached into her pocket and saw that it was Cedrik, her driver. Cedrik had worked for Cat's family for as long as she could remember.

"Hey Cedrik", she said, putting on a pair of red Louis Vuitton flats, "I'll be downstairs in just a minute."

"Miss Valentine," he said in his thick Eastern European accent, "I am running late."

"Late?" Cat asked, putting on her favorite, teal, Gucci raincoat, "What do you mean late? You can't be late. How late?"

"I know Miss Valentine. I am so very sorry. There was an accident the police have created detours, but there are so many cars and a lot of traffic. I would not be able to get to you for at least another twenty-five minutes."

Cat glanced down at the time on her phone as the elevator doors opened for her in her building's lobby. "But I need to be in school in a half hour. I have a really important exam first period."

"I am very sorry Miss Valentine. Is there no other way for you to get to school today? How about the subway. It would not take you very long."

Cat looked out the glass door at the dismal scene in front of her. It was raining, hard. People everywhere walked with umbrellas over their heads or hooded jackets held snug.

"You're seriously not going to be here?" she asked, frowning as her fate started to set in.

"I cannot say sorry to you enough, Miss Valentine. The situation is out of my hands."

Cat paused for a short moment, staring at the rain pounding against the asphalt of her Park Avenue apartment building. Finally, she sighed. "You're lucky i like you, Cedrik," she said in defeat, and hung up her phone. Her doorman gave her an umbrella to use so that she did not need to go up to the pent house to get one.

Mentally, she planned her route. She lived on the Upper East Side. Her school was on the Upper West. It was far from an easy trip, but she would end up in class just on time. Bracing herself for the weather, Cat stepped out of the building and headed towards the nearest subway station, three blocks away.

Cat wasn't used to this. For her entire life, she's lived in a world of expensive clothes, personal drivers and private schools. Being a native New Yorker, the subway system was not a foreign territory to her, but never in her life has she taken public transit to school, and never has she walked through the rain without it being of her own volition. Her mother was a personal stylist to the stars, and her father was the CEO of a multi billion dollar energy company. Never in her 17 years had Cat needed to work for money; it was simply always there.

After what seemed like the longest time, she saw the tale-tell lights of the subway stop at the end of the block, and she picked up her pace. Her the tops of her uncovered feet were wet with the back splash of the falling rain, and she wanted to get into the warm safety of the subway station as quickly as she could.

She held on to the green handrail and closed her umbrella as she walked down the stairs into the underground, careful not to slip on the soaking wet concrete steps as she maneuvered her way in and out of a crowd of people making their way up into the raining city.

Cat dug into her wallet and found her rarely-used metrocard, swiping her way through a turnstile and simultaneously ignoring the musty smell around her. She found her way to the downtown 4 train track without a problem and only had to wait a few moments for the train of metal boxes to pull up in front of her with the metalic screech of its wheels. The doors opened and she quickly got onto the train, planting herself in one of the blue plastic seats. With a two-toned ding, the doors shut and the train lurched into motion.

Cat counted down the stops.

59th street

42nd street

She got up and walked through the giant mob of people that is the underground section of Grand Central Station. Making her way through the many twists and turns until she found the track for the S train to the west side, she passed a group of young boys surrounded by a group of onlookers as they breakdanced with a bucket in front of them asking for tips. As the sound of their hiphop faded away, Cat came across an older man playing smooth jazz with his saxophone with the case open before him, hoping to catch some spare change.

She didn't give either a second glance as her hurried feet carried her to the track where the train, Cat realized after looking up at the train times, wasn't going to be there for another five minutes. Glancing down at the time she realized that she would be arriving at school with not a minute to spare. She closed her eyes and leaned against one of the thick concrete columns covered in crackled paint that keeps the ceiling from caving in when the gentle sound of a strumming guitar made its way to Cat's ears above the ruckus that was the underground station.

Her eyes scanned the area the sound was coming from, trying to look through the crowd. A few people parted and Cat's eyes landed on a girl sitting on an overturned bucket with a red guitar over her knee as she played. While it was the girls fingers that expertly danced along the guitar strings, Cat was looking at her face.

She had her eyes closed, as if she was somewhere else entirely, letting the music take her away. She had an eerily haunting aura to her. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders in loose waves, but it was thin and limp. Her skin was incredibly pale and chalky, her cheeks were sunken in. Her entirely black outfit was tattered and wet, causing it to stick to the frail body underneath it, accentuating just how thin the girl was. Her black boots were being held together with silver duck tape, though the rain must have caused it to loosen because it appeared as though her left shoe was about to fall apart.

The broken girl opened her mouth to sing, and Cat felt every hair on the nape of her neck stand on end. It was like a lullaby. Her voice was hypnotic and perfect beyond anything Cat had ever heard before. She did not even notice as her feet seemed to move from where she stood and slowly take her through the crowd of people and closer to the singing girl. She noticed that there was a small black box in front of her with a couple dollar bills and spare change, but nothing substantial. Nothing that would pay for a meal for the skeletal girl.

Over all of the noise, Cat could hear the rumble of her train approaching her station. She reached into her wallet and pulled out a twenty dollar bill and folded it in half before leaning down to gently place it in the box just as the train doors were opening.

In a hurry, she shuffled over to the train, but it was almost entirely full. She squeezed her way through the doors and found a railing to hold on to for support, but she was essentially stuck between burly old man and the space that the sliding doors were about to occupy.

An automated voice called over the train's intercom system. "Stand clear of the closing doors please."

In that moment, Cat looked up to where the girl was sitting in what was now an empty train station. Her eyes were opened and the sparkling green orbs were locked right on to Cat's. For a body that appeared to be so close to the brink of death, her eyes were completely alive, appearing to give off their own type of glow.

The girl nodded her head once, as if in thanks, just as the doors were closing and Cat was moved forward towards the West Side.

Cat managed to get to school with just moments to spare and power walked towards her first period class, sitting down in her second row seat just as the bell was ringing. The teacher stood with her back against her desk with a stack of papers in her hand.

"Do not rush through this," she said, starting to hand the exams to the students. "You have forty-five minutes. That is more than enough time for you to slow down and truly think your answers through. Nothing is meant to trick you. Everything is relatively straightforward, but it is not easy. You have been warned."

The paper was put down on Cat's desk and she stared at the questions. She wasn't exactly intellectually gifted, and no amount of money that mommy and daddy could have spent on private tutors changed the fact that Catarina Valentine was far from a good student. On a normal day, she could just barely pass this test. Today, however, it seemed that her mind was at a blank. All she could think about was the girl on the subway platform.

Was she homeless? She was strikingly beautiful. She could use a shower, sure, and maybe some new clothing. What was her story? How could someone who seemed to be picture perfect land themselves on the streets? And the guitar and her voice. She was so talented. Surely someone in the city would see her and hear her and make her into a star. The perfect rags to riches story. If that could be anyone, Cat is sure that it could be this girl.

"You have a half hour left," the teacher said, and Cat physically shook her head to get the thoughts of this girl out of her mind and onto the test in front of her. This was important. She was just getting ready to start sending out her college applications. They would see er transcripts which, admittedly, could use any boost they could get.

She was halfway through the last question when the bell rang, signalling the end of class. Only two students were still working along with Cat, but she had to write down her last two thoughts as quickly as she could before the teacher asked her to turn it in.

She was packing her bag and getting ready to go on to her History class when her best friend Abigail walked up to her. "How did you do?" she asked, knowing full well that Cat's grades were less than optimal.

"I don't know," Cat admitted with a sigh as they headed down the hall. "Okay, i suppose. Won't know for sure until she grades them."

"I glanced over at you in the beginning of class and you seemed to be zoning out. I thought you were deep in thought."

"Yeah," Cat said, picturing the girl. "I guess i have some things on my mind is all."

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